Bamise Ayanwola, a 22-year-old lady, who was declared missing last week after boarding a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle from the Ajah area of Lagos to Oshodi, has been found dead.
A relative of the victim confirmed the development on Monday afternoon.
“We are at the morgue. We have confirmed the corpse. An autopsy will be carried out to confirm if any part of her body is missing,” he said.
The young lady went missing on February 26 after she boarded a BRT bus with number 240257 heading to Oshodi at about 7:30 pm to see her sister-in-law, who was said to be in labour.
The fashion designer was said to have become suspicious when the driver of the bus told her to sit at the back despite being the only one in the vehicle.
“When she entered the BRT bus, it was only her, and there was no light inside the bus. She had felt safe inside the BRT since it is a popular state bus, but she wondered why it was only her that was in the bus and the driver didn’t pick any other passenger.
“She was even conversing with a colleague of hers because she felt unsafe. She was sending voice notes to her friend. Her friend advised her to drop since the driver didn’t pick up any other passenger.
“Before entering, she informed her friend that the driver was passing some remarks at her but she didn’t answer.
“So later on, the driver later picked up three people on the road: two men and a lady. Then she now felt calm.
“Before the driver picked the three other persons who had disguised as passengers, she made several videos of the bus and the driver and sent it to her friend. The video captured the bus number. It helped us in tracking the bus.
“Her phone was not ‘low’. It is a new phone she just bought three weeks ago. Her friend chatted with her several times, but she didn’t reply.
“She tried calling her via normal call a few minutes to 8 pm, but she didn’t pick up.
“Around 7:32 pm, she posted ‘God, it is your protection I need’ on her WhatsApp status.
“I saw the status but I didn’t see it on time because I was not online.
“After repeated calls, her friend said she heard some voices underneath trying to struggle to get the phone from her,” sister of the victim, Elizabeth, revealed.
The driver of the vehicle, Nice Andrew Omininikoron, has since gone into hiding and moved out of his apartment following the outrage that has greeted the incident. But his employment guarantor and other suspects have been arrested by the police.
